Canaccord Genuity downgrades Future, says risk/reward ‘mismatched’

Canaccord Genuity downgraded Future on Friday to ‘sell’ from ‘hold’ following a strong share price increase of around 100% from the lows.

Canaccord said the valuation and risk/reward outlook are "mismatched".

"With the macro environment increasingly uncertain, GoCompare at peak growth/margins, US advertising peer updates showing some softness and our analysis around traffic data suggests it remains negative year-on-year," it said.

"Consensus estimates currently have Future returning to growth in H2 FY24 and beyond, yet we believe is overly optimistic."

It noted that consensus expectations have Future growing group revenues by 3.5% in H2, followed by 2.5% in FY25.

"However with the macro environment looking increasingly uncertain, weak peer updates, negative traffic data and GoCompare at peak growth, we believe this could be a tough ask and the risk of Future downgrades is increasing," it said.

Canaccord upped its price target on the stock to 733p from 660p.